THURLES residents will soon get the chance to spend a penny in style. The town's council, while not flush with money, has decided to buy a £20,000 Superloo, according to the Tipperary Star.

Mr John Kenehan told a recent meeting of Thurles Urban District Council that he and Mr Paddy Durack had inspected Superloos and were impressed.

The Superloo, described as an "attractive piece of street furniture", will replace the town's existing public convenience.

But Mr Kenehan experienced a lot of private inconvenience recently, the paper also reports. His bid to become a Seanad candidate failed after he was late for a crucial meeting due to heavy traffic.

Mr Kenehan was "a few minutes late" for a special meeting of the North Tipperary Vocational Education Committee to decide nominations of Seanad candidates from the Irish Vocational Educational Authority. He told the Tipperary Star he was caught in traffic in Nenagh and when he got to the meeting the nomination was decided.

He was "disappointed" the committee did not wait for his arrival as he had signalled his intention to seek its nomination.

Following heated exchanges, the committee refused to change its nomination of fellow councillor, Mr Tony McKenna, a former senator and vice president of the IVEA. Despite his disappointment, Mr Kenehan wished Mr McKenna success.

Traffic problems of a different sort feature in the Wicklow People which reports that a motorist was awarded £1,840 damages after a cow "fell on top of his car bonnet" and cracked the windscreen. A herd of cows was crossing the road for milking when one animal ran out and was struck by the car.

The lyrics of Van Morrison were quoted by a judge in a Gorey civil motor accident case involving a 21 year old driver which is also reported in the Wicklow People. "There'll be days like this," Judge John F. Neilon told Mr John O'Sullivan as he awarded damages to the other motorist involved in the accident. "We were all young once," the judge mused, before urging young drivers to slow down.

Trains are the preferred mode of transport for supporters of south Kerry's new Independent TD, Mr Jackie HealyRae. The Kerryman reports that a train will be block booked for June 26th to bring supporters and friends of Mr HealyRae to Dublin for his first day in Leinster House.

Also making the journey to the Dail on that day will be the newly elected Donegal TD, Thomas Gildea.

"The times are a changin' - Donegal a bore no more," reads the page one headline in the Donegal Democrat above a picture of Mr Gildea, the successful anti MMDS candidate. The county which formerly topped the polls for political predictability has, says the paper, confounded political pundits by returning Mr Gildea and Independent Fianna Fail's Harry Blaney to the 28th Dail.

The paper's editorial says many lessons can be drawn from the victory of Mr Gildea, a 57 year old Glenties farmer whose trade mark is a Vneck pullover.

Votes for soaps was only one element of Gildea's victory.

"Voters for Thomas Gildea were stressing their belief that a community based initiative - illegal or not - like the deflector system, is important because it comes from and serves the local community," the editorial says.

"Voters and viewers alike must have felt isolated and ignored for years in relation to this issue. Did they not indicate their anger by their vote?"

The Limerick Leader reports that Kilkee people are seeing red over the failure of the beach to secure an EU Blue Flag, particularly as Ballybunion's two beaches got the seal of approval.

The problem in Kilkee is not the seawater quality, but the content of small streams flowing into the bay which are not controlled, according to the paper.

Clare County council made a special plea to the Irish jury which sanctioned the flag for the beach. But the EU turned it down on a technical point about the control of outflows into the bay, according to the paper.

Mr John Williams from Kilkee Chamber of Commerce is quoted as saying he hopes the public will be reassured that the scaremongering stories about sewage pollution in Kilkee Bay are untrue.

The Connacht Tribune reports how Inishbofin island had an influx of American visitors last week for a ceremony to commemorate the lives of two young students who drowned there 21 years ago.

The men had visited the island in 1976 on an exchange programme from Kansas University. They were drowned after walking to a rocky outcrop called the Staggs on the remote north west of the island which can only be reached at low tide. A bronze cross was unveiled at the ceremony.